Every year, the Kailey Marsh-fronted BloodList makes waves in the industry as it reveals several high-profile horror screenplays that are available in the market. This year, due in part to the strikes, there won’t be a 15th edition, but we still wanted to celebrate the annual list and look back at some of the monstrous success stories.
“While we aren’t releasing the 15th edition in 2023, due in part to the WGA strike and the timeline to when we would accept submissions, it’s a good time to look back at the scripts and writers that have been featured on the list over the years,” Kailey tells us via release.
“From Dan Erickson, creator of the hit series “Severance”, thanking BloodList in his acceptance speech at the HCA’s for “best series writing”, to having countless writers tell me how much landing on the BloodList has done for their careers, it’s humbling to see the impact of the list,” she added.
“In 2021, we began our development deal with Village Roadshow Pictures where we have optioned 4 screenplays via Fresh Blood. We hope to produce these features (My House, Little India, On the First Day of Christmas, and Zero Feet Away) in the very near future and look forward to the endless possibilities of the BloodList brand. Our pivot to only featuring Fresh Blood Writers in 2020 was predominately to level the playing field for writers who were trying to break into the industry without representation.
“While there are more than a handful of screenwriting lists these days, we are so humbled by the horror and BloodList community’s support through the years.
Here is a look back at BloodList’s “Fresh Blood Selects” from the past 7 years.
BloodList 15 will be announced in 2024. Submissions open in January!
“I have been a fan of horror movies since I was a kid. I also knew from a young age that I wanted to work in entertainment, so it made sense that when I started interning and became an assistant, I made a name for myself quickly as a ‘horror person’,” Kailey recollects about her start in the business. “While I was an assistant, I had started the now-defunct tracking board TRACKULA where assistants, creatives, and executives who were horror fans could discuss their favorite scripts and attend our screenings of films from all over the world, most times before they were released. I even remember meeting Bloody Disgusting Co-Founder, Brad Miska, at the Paranormal Activity premiere where we exchanged screeners for a film that we ended up showing at a Trackula Movie Night.
“In 2009, BloodList started as an internal Trackula list compiled of what everyone on the tracking board was enjoying,” she continues. “The list picked up steam, and I remember being quoted in The Hollywood Reporter at the age of 22 about the list. It was surreal. 14 years later the list would has grown into a production company and a discovery platform in the horror and dark genre screenwriting community.”
Writers talk about BloodList:
“The BloodList was instrumental in moving my career forward by connecting me to development executives and fellow writers well-established in the industry. The list is a treat I look forward to each year to read a curated collection of scripts from writers pushing the bounds of genre stories.” – Rebekah Mueller (Moonrise)
“No trick, just a treat: The BloodList literally altered the course of my career. It’s incredibly hard to transition from development executive to creative, and landing on the BloodList helped legitimize me as a screenwriter and created such buzz around my first screenplay on it, a producer optioned it the very next day. Since then, I’ve had two of my BloodList screenplays produced and I’m helping a fellow BloodList writer produce hers right now — and all that momentum started with the BloodList.” – Joe Russo (Soul Mates)
“Having my script WATCHER on the BloodList was the gold star that launched my career. The script had already been passed on by a dozen producers, I was an unknown writer, and it was only after being selected for the BloodList that the script was sold. WATCHER went on to sell at Sundance and set a box office record for IFC Films. If it hadn’t been for Kailey Marsh creating this space, and her discerning eye, this film probably never would have been made.” – Zack Ford (Watcher)
“Being included on BloodList ’21 was one of the most gratifying experiences I’ve had as a filmmaker. As a horror writer, it was one of the first times that I felt like my work matters and deserves recognition and in the time since, my first horror feature has premiered at horror film festivals all around the world and my inclusion on the Bloodlist has been a consistently recognized badge of honor. As a lover of the genre, it means so much to be a part of such an amazing group of filmmakers who are Bloodlist alums.” – Jose Nateras (Zero Feet Away)
“Being on the BloodList in 2022 has had an enormous impact on my career in the past year. As an unrepresented writer/director, I had previously struggled to advance to the next phase of my career, even with award-winning shorts and scripts under my belt; having my feature script ALMA’S GRAVE place on the 2022 BloodList was what finally allowed me to be taken seriously as a writer/director. I was able to land representation and interest in my feature skyrocketed overnight. I now have one script in pre-production and another in development, both of which I am attached to direct. I’m grateful that the BloodList team saw something unique in my script, as the list quite literally changed my life.” – Lizz Marshall (Alma’s Grave)
“In terms of genre cred, there’s no cooler list to wind up on than the Blood List. I still get inquiries about my Blood List script several years later, and it still feels like having a seat at the Cool Kids’ Table (or at least the ‘Interesting Weirdos’ Table).” – Haley Bartels (The Great God Pan)
“Across the decades, horror has been one of the most diverse genres — Asian horror has consistently paved the way for representation. As a boy living halfway across the world in Singapore, horror became one of the places where I could see people like myself on-screen. I knew I wanted to write projects that were terrifying yet introspective and pointed to a flaw in society or culture that we as a whole needed to change. For This Bedroom is Dead, I knew I wanted to explore the concept of repressed sexuality in Asian couples. One of my follow-up scripts, Reunion, about a mother celebrating the Lunar New Year whose dead son comes back to life, was later optioned by a producer who reached out after finding me on the Bloodlist. Subsequently, I was also able to get a deal with Audible for my first ever audio series “Therapy Z”, about a psychotherapist who must counsel the emotionally-battered survivors of an undead apocalypse while fighting dark inner demons of her own.” – Karl Gan (This Bedroom is Dead)
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